Overview: The Sankofa Birthworkers Collective (SBC) held a restorative gathering for Black Birthworkers on Sunday, April 13, in Redlands, California, in honor of Black Maternal Health Week (BMHW). The event included a grounding yoga practice, a sound bath, and a light lunch, with all proceeds going to midwifery efforts. The SBC was founded in 2018 to fill the need for community among Black Birthworkers in the Inland Empire and to make a difference in Black maternal healthcare. Black maternal mortality rates in the U.S. are “terrible, horrible, no good and very bad,” with Black women experiencing more than three times the rate of White women.
Alyssah Hall
In honor of Black Maternal Health Week (BMHW), the Sankofa Birthworkers Collective (SBC) of the Inland Empire held Breathe and Bloom, a restorative gathering for Black Birthworkers on Sunday, April 13, at Flowstone Climbing in Redlands. This year’s BMHW theme is “Healing Legacies: Strengthening Black Maternal Health Through Collective Action and Advocacy.”
Breathe and Bloom welcomed Black birth workers and anyone who works in maternal health to a grounding yoga practice taught by yoga instructor of five years, Janea Alcé. The yoga session was followed by a sound bath led by sound facilitator of seven years, Karina Arcia. At the end of the gathering, the SBC held a light lunch for guests and also offered VIP swag bags, T-shirts and other merchandise in which all proceeds went to midwifery efforts.
SBC was founded in 2018, to fill the need for community among Black Birthworkers in the I.E. and a desire to make a difference in Black maternal healthcare. The sentiment of Sankofa has Ghanian origins and means to “remember and honor the wisdom of the past and bring it into the future.” This connects the Birthworkers to the work of their Black ancestors who helped communities in the past.
“In our collective we want to not just improve outcomes, but amplify joy, peace and rest…,” said Deidre Medley Coutsoumpos, founding member and doula of program coordination and development of SBC.
“Today, we are inviting the spirit of rest and restoration…even though the journey is long, and we do it together, it is important that we also take time to pause, to replenish so we can continue moving forward…We are not here to be a bunch of burnt out Black women. That is our unofficial motto, and this is how we do that, and also keeping one another accountable,” Medley Coutsoumpos continued.
When it comes to maternal health rates in the U.S., Medley Coutsoumpos said when it comes to Black maternal health the rates are “terrible, horrible, no good and very bad.” She further noted that these rates are abysmal for maternal mortality, infant mortality, and morbidity.
“Black women have a mortality rate of 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births—more than three times the rate for White women (14.5), and significantly higher than Hispanic (12.4) and Asian (10.7) women,” according to the Policy Center for Maternal Health who shared data released by the CDC from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS).
The NVSS displayed a decline in the nation’s overall maternal mortality rates in 2023, however Black maternal mortality rates, actually experienced a slight increase. Black women had approximately 50 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2023, a slight increase from 49.5 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2022.
Black Maternal Health Week is a campaign founded by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) and held annually from April 11 to April 17. April is also National Minority Health Month, and was intentionally chosen as the month to mark BMHW. BMHW was created to encourage activism, community building and awareness of Black mothers and birthing individuals in order to eliminate maternal mortality and maltreatment. BMHW was recognized by the White House on April 13, 2021, according to the BMMA website.
The SBC held two other in person events for BMHW prior to Breathe and Bloom. This includes an April 11 Panel Discussion on The Risk of Giving Birth a PBS documentary that addresses inequities in birth for Black birthing people and mothers in the U.S. They also hosted a “Movement & Midwives” meetup on April 12, which offered a stroll in the park with local midwives and other Black maternal health providers. The Breathe and Bloom session on April 13 was the restful finale of the in person BMHW events.
“While this is an effort to raise funds for the first Black-owned birth center in the IE and the work of other Black midwives in the IE,we really want to remind the birth workers, whether they’re midwives, doulas, therapists, wherever they are in their journey, to take care of themselves,” said Chantel Runnels, Doula of operations at SBC.
“At Sankofa, we don’t want to promote more burnt out Black women. We know we are givers and we are servers, but we can only give from what we have, and so events like today, we just want the birth workers to focus on themselves, to feel loved, to feel supported, and nurtured and to have a sense of deep rest for the work that they go out and do,” Runnels continued.
The Breathe and Bloom gathering started off with a journal prompt, followed by the silent yoga session, guided by Alcé’s mic through the participants headphones, encouraging the women to focus on their own practice.
“It is important for us to reclaim our breath and connect to our bodies, and so our time today will be focusing on just grounding and coming back into the body as it is, where we are… our vessel is where we just house that breath that really pushes us forward,” said Alcé.
Following the restorative and gentle yoga flow, Arcia led the calming and introspective sound bowl meditation.
“Sound is healing and it’s very unique to each person. So, however someone feels something going through their body is their whole entire unique experience. I’m just facilitating this expression to help them heal in their own unique way because I don’t have the answers for them, but they have the answers for themselves, and they can get that from going within,” shared Arcia.